Mobilizing Americans To Support United Nations Missions

Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, WA) —

Since most people don’t live in New York City or pay close attention to foreign relations and international development work, what the United Nations does and stands for can sometimes seem like quite a mystery.

However, something called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are much more straightforward than your average diplomatic treasise, and seem to have resonated with a relatively large audience and attracted new and powerful partners in a quest to change the landscape of some of the most serious issues facing the Earth’s citizens. In sum, the MDGs are eight international development goals that all 192 UN members and over 20 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015, and they include eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, and fighting epidemic disease. While progress towards them in some parts of the world has been uneven, progress has definitely been made overall, and continues to be.

Two UN-Related Organizations, One Common Goal

Two organizations that work in support of the UN and its missions, including the MDGs, do amazing work in the U.S. and around the world. The first, a charity named the United Nations Foundation, was created in 1998 with an historic $1 billion gift from businessman and philanthropist Ted Turner. This foundation creates numerous public/private partnerships that address many of the world’s most pressing problems, and also works to more generally broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach.

A distinct organization, the United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA), has a three-part mission: (1) informing, inspiring and mobilizing Americans to support the work of the UN and to strengthen the United Nations system; (2) encouraging U.S. leadership to work constructively through the UN and encourage everyone to achieve the goals of the United Nations Charter; and (3) through its Programs and more than 100 chapters, to educate the American public about the invaluable work of the UN, raise funds, and carry out local activities related to the United Nations.

On November 18th, these two organizations announced that they are joining forces to build a broader base of citizen support for U.S. engagement and the work of the UN. UN Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner, joined by UN Foundation President Senator Timothy E. Wirth, and Co-Chair of UNA-USA Thomas Pickering, made the announcement of this alliance during the Global Leadership Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

In addition, during the Global Leadership Dinner the UN Foundation and UNA-USA honored a number of distinguished people whose leadership in advancing UN causes has been commendable. They were: Senator John Kerry, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, American Idol creator and producer Simon Fuller, and the Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft Honored By UN Foundation and UNA-USA

At the aforementioned Global Leadership Dinner, Microsoft was honored for their leadership in advancing UN causes. Linda Zecher (pictured left with Ted Turner), the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Sector division, was on hand to accept this award on behalf of the company.

In her acceptance speech, she thanked her UN partners for supporting their joint commitment of working together to reach the MDGs. She also stressed the importance of working together to explore and develop creative and scalable ways to use technology to help make the MDGs a reality. Zecher further outlined her take on the dinner and the MDGs on Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential blog. In part, she noted:

We believe passionately that technology can be a catalyst for harnessing that knowledge and those resources. It can be an essential tool in meeting our toughest global challenges and helping all people realize their full potential. But, we have long understood that technology alone is not the answer. It takes more than just access to a computer to educate a child, help a rural farmer prosper, or help a girl escape violence. It requires a holistic approach of shared expertise and resources of all stakeholders in the public and private sectors. That principle that has been the basis for our partnerships with UN organizations.

Although on the surface organizations like Microsoft and the UN Foundation seem very different, a closer examination reveals some very similar core values, philosophies, and programs. Compare two initiatives designed at their core to empower young women: the UN Foundation’s “Girl Up” (run by Elizabeth Gore) and Microsoft’s “Digigirlz,” for example. The details are different, but the ultimate hope is very much the same.

Having Broad Impact At Large Scale

Together with non-profit organizations like the UN Foundation and the UNA-USA, and global companies like Microsoft, the UN is slowly but surely changing the world for the better. The MDGs are aimed at impacting the most people possible. Like the UN’s goals, Microsoft has a commitment to designing its innovations to reach the most people possible. This is summed up nicely in a blog post titled “Measuring Our Work by Its Broad Impact“ by Microsoft’s Vice President for Corporate Communications, Frank Shaw:

At the highest level, we think about innovation in relation to its ability to have a positive impact in the world. For Microsoft, it is not sufficient to simply have a good idea, or a great idea, or even a cool idea. We measure our work by its broad impact… For a company whose products touch vast numbers of people, what matters is innovation at scale, not just innovation at speed.

Read more about Microsoft’s commitment and contribution to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals here.